A generic motor vehicle has a drive unit, for example, an internal combustion engine, whose power output shaft can be output alternately to two input shafts of a dual clutch transmission, which are coaxially arranged, for example, by way of two separating clutches of the dual clutch transmission. By way of example, in each case, sub-transmissions that are disposed behind one another axially can be activated or deactivated with the input shafts during vehicle operation. A common output shaft, which is arranged parallel to the axle and outputs to the vehicle wheels via a differential, can be allocated to the two input shafts. Fixed and detachable gears are disposed on the shafts of the dual clutch transmission, these gears being grouped into gear sets, with the formation of gear steps, in which the detachable gears can be coupled to the shafts by means of shift clutches. Of the two sub-transmissions, a first sub-transmission has the odd-numbered forward gears and the second sub-transmission has the even-numbered forward gears. The dual clutch transmission can be actuated as an automatic transmission by means of a transmission control device. For this purpose, a determination unit is allocated to the transmission control unit, by means of which a target gear is determined as a function of a plurality of vehicle operating parameters. A shift sequence control unit is also provided, by means of which a gear change from a current gear to the target gear can be controlled.
In a familiar shift sequence control, gear upshifts are always carried out sequentially even in the case of larger gear jumps. That is, when there is a gear change from the current gear to a higher target gear, single upshifts will be carried out, in which only one gear jump from the gear of one sub-transmission to the next-higher gear of the other sub-transmission always occurs.
Such a sequential upshift is perceived as uncomfortable by the driver in a driving situation in which, after an acceleration operation, for example, for an overtaking or passing maneuver, the vehicle transitions into a cruising operation at higher speed. In this driving situation, the acceleration operation is made in fourth gear as an example. After terminating the acceleration operation, an upshift is made to a seventh gear, for example, as the target gear. The gear change from the fourth gear (current gear) to the seventh gear (target gear) is executed in the prior art by sequential single upshifts, in which upshifts are made sequentially, first from the fourth gear (second sub-transmission) to the fifth gear (first sub-transmission), subsequently from the fifth gear to the sixth gear (second sub-transmission), and after that from the sixth to the seventh gear (first sub-transmission). By this successive sequence of single upshifts, in the case of larger gear jumps (from the current gear to the target gear), the target gear will only be reached with a time delay after a long period of upshifting. The single upshifts to the next-higher gear in each case may thus be perceived by the driver as unpleasant or unnecessary, since the actual driver action (i.e., engaging a target gear by means of a rocker control/selector lever or driving strategy/gas pedal) no longer takes place simultaneously with the vehicle response, but rather occurs with a time delay.
A method for the control of an automatic transmission, which is also designed as a dual clutch transmission, is known from DE 10 2007 003 921 A1. The transmission control is designed so that, in addition to the above-defined single upshifting, a multiple upshifting can also take place. The multiple upshifting occurs each time only in odd-numbered gears or only in even-numbered gears, i.e., it does not occur between gears of different sub-transmissions, but rather in the same sub-transmission, for example, an upshift from the fourth gear (second sub-transmission) to the sixth gear (second sub-transmission), whereby the fifth gear (first sub-transmission) is skipped over as intermediate gear. This multiple upshifting makes possible an emergency operation of the dual clutch transmission, in which one sub-transmission can be shifted and the other sub-transmission can no longer be shifted due to a disruption. In this way, the vehicle can be driven safely to the nearest service facility.